Experimenters Strangle, Smash Heads of Rats in ‘Intimate Partner Violence’ Test at Aussie University

For Immediate Release:
March 7, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Melbourne, Australia –

Experimenters at Monash University used weights to bash in the heads or strangle up to 109 rats within an inch of their lives, and PETA U.S. and PETA Australia today urge immediate action from federal and university officials to prevent this gratuitous, violence from occurring again.

Both PETA entities also demand a full retraction from the scientific journal that published the test and urge authorities to launch an investigation for apparent cruelty to animals violations.

PETA U.S. and PETA Australia urge the university and the National Health and Medical Research Council, which bankrolled the experiment with $1.9 million, to ban all future strangulation and traumatic brain injury tests on animals and adopt PETA U.S. scientists’ Research Modernization Now, a strategic roadmap for transitioning fully away from animal testing.

The unscientific and cruel experiment, first flagged by Animal-Free Science Advocacy, was conducted under the guise of shedding light on human health impacts faced by victims of domestic violence. The results were published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, the official journal of the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society.

“This vile and indefensible experiment lacks any scientific merit while causing enormous suffering to animals and failing to help human survivors of intimate partner violence in any way whatsoever,” says PETA U.S. Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA wants authorities to pursue cruelty to animals charges against those who abused animals in this way and prevent such experiments from being conducted, funded or published ever again.”

The non-fatal strangulation procedure involved placing the band across the trachea and suspending the 680g weight from the silicone band for 90 seconds while monitoring blood oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter attached to the hind paw.^[1]

Experimenters used a weighted band to strangle dozens of adolescent female rats for 90 agonizing seconds, applying a force about three times the rat’s body weight. Other rats were violently hit in the head with a weight to inflict traumatic brain injury. Some rats were forced to endure both abuses, and others were resuscitated after being strangled. All were killed at the end of the experiment.

Rats are highly social, sentient individuals who become attached to each other, love their own families, and easily bond with their human guardians—returning as much affection as is given to them.

PETA U.S.—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA U.S. on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

[1] Credit: Modified from Figure 1 in Sun M, Symons GF, Spitz G, O’Brien WT, Baker TL, Fan J, Martins BD, Allen J, Giesler LP, Mychasiuk R, van Donkelaar P, Brand J, Christie B, O’Brien TJ, O’Sullivan MJ, Mitra B, Wellington C, McDonald SJ, Shultz SR. Pathophysiology, blood biomarkers, and functional deficits after intimate partner violence-related brain injury: Insights from emergency department patients and a new rat model. Brain Behav Immun. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.09.030. Deed – Attribution 4.0 International – Creative Commons